Pretty in Pink for Lesley

Hi friends! Today's card is a sweet little baby card for Lesley, who's welcoming a baby girl in just a couple short weeks.  There's a baby shower blog hop that's been going on and although I'm late to the party, I'm sneaking in at the end because I wouldn't want to miss a chance to wish this very sweet new Mama all the best with her new bundle of love!

Lesley, you're one of the most inspiring people I know. You are so sweet, creative, caring and handle pressure with such grace and poise. All things your daughter will grow up to admire and appreciate. Enjoy this new little chapter in your life... it's as rewarding as it is challenging.

For my card, I started with some distress and distress oxide inks in pinks and a fabriano watercolor notecard. I smooshed the inks and spritzed and dried and fussed until it was just like I wanted.  Next I embossed the frame and sentiment from To the Moon in white in the center of the card.

I then stamped the giraffe and scarf in archival ink, then watercolored with distress inks and hand trimmed to pop up in the frame.  A bit of glitter on the spots and a crinkled seam binding bow with button center finish things off.

Enabler's List

Stamps: To the Moon (Verve Stamps)

Paper: fabriano watercolor note card, white

Ink: worn lipstick, picked raspberries, fesive berries distress ink, black archival ink (Ranger), Versamark

Accessories: white embossing powder (JudiKins), crystal drops (Nuvo), crinkled seam binding, button, twine

Purple Haze Card Concept

Hi friends! It's time for a new inspiration challenge at The Card Concept.  This one is purple haze and has some gorgeous purple hues, with a hint of aqua and brown thrown in.  Because I think aqua and just about any other color is crazy delicious, I was inspired by the colors to make this mixed media card.

I started by pulling out some distress paints and distress oxide inks and a few Magicals pigment powders to make a background.  I laid down a layer of gesso, let it dry, then started in with the Magicals and some water to get a good purple layer down.  I then started adding layers of paint with my fingers and finally added some distress oxide inks and water, finishing off with an aqua watercolor crayon blended with my finger to ad back in some of the light aqua. I sprinkled a bit of watered down gesso for the splatters, then embossed the Philippians 4:8 verse from the Potter's Clay set in white.

The pots are stamped using the MISTI alignment tool, first in wilted violet distress oxide ink, then a partial inking of dusty concord for a shaded effect.  I spritzed with water to activated the oxides, then cut with the coordinating  Pottery Die Set .  The sprays are stamped with both vintage photo and walnut stain distress oxides and then spritzed, fussy cut and accented with some crystal Nuvo drops.

The background for the card is stamped with the big flower from Potters Clay, then sponged with various shaded lilac, dusty concord and wilted violet inks.  It was a bit bright, so I toned things down with a soft layer of gesso, then added some of the aqua back in with the broken china distress oxide ink.   I finished off with white mats, a bit of lace and some distressed edges all around.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you've been inspired to give the challenge a go.  For even more inspirations, be sure to stop by The Card Concept to see what the other amazing designers are sharing today.  It's always a treat!

Card Concept 70

Enabler's List
Stamps: Potter's Clay (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white
Ink: wilted violet, broken china, walnut stain, vintage photo (Distress Oxide), dusty concord, shaded lilac (Distress), Versamark, broken china, wilted violet, dusty concord, tumbled glass (Distress Paint), gesso
Accessories: Pottery Die Set (A Cut Abobve by VERVE), lace trim, crystal drops (Nuvo), MISTI

Springtime Coffee

Hi friends! I'm back today with a quick little card I made for the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.  I was the lucky winner of a prize from the Winter CLH blog hop and was so happy to receive a little bundle of coffee goodies from Impress.  hey included some sweet little coffee brads, a few fabulous coffee stamps and a couple of Fresh Ink pads. Thanks so much, Impress... they are so appreciated!

I just love this big coffee cup stamp, so stamped it in Chocolate Fresh Ink, then used a watercolor brush and water to color using the chocolate and cocoa colors.  I finished off with some white pencil and a bit of grey shadowing around the cup.

I had a leftover piece of water colored paper that I thought was perfect for spring, so I cut it down and embossed the sentiment from New Beginnings in white.  I then stamped two of the flowers from New Beginnings on crumb cake, embossed in white and cut with the coordinating Springtime Stitches Die Set.  I tucked in a couple leaves cut with the same set and accented with a pearl. My white panel is embossed with a stitched clouds embossing folder and then I tied some baker's twine around the panels and accented with one of the fun little coffee brads I received. Aren't they so cute?
Well, it sounds like my boys are about 15 seconds from civil war, so I'm calling it a post.  :)  Happy hopping!

Enabler's List
Stamps: coffee cup stamp with words (Impress), New Beginnings (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white, crumb cake
Ink: chocolate and cocoa Fresh Ink (Impress), Versamark (Tsukineko), white Marks All pencil (Stabilo), Magicals Powders (Lindy's Stamp Gang), watercolor pencils (Prima)
Accessories: Springtime Stitches Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), coffee brads (Impress), stitched clouds embossing folder (SU!), adhesive pearl, baker's twine

Strong Coffee

Hi friends! It's Monday again, and that means it's time to start your week off with a new Mojo Monday sketch.  This one is an easy sketch that's perfect for quick cards and a large sentiment.

It's the start of Spring Break here at our house and so I'll be needing as much strong coffee as possible to keep up with the Energizer Bunnies running around our house!  So for my next card for the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop I chose to use the coffee blessing from the limited time Rise and Shine free digital set I designed for Verve.

I printed the PDF version of the digi on my laser printer, trimmed the sentiment down and added a few Copic highlights.  Next I colored the little flower mug, hand cut it and popped up on top.  I layered some pretty papers, using white mats and thought everything looked a little more fesitve with the two panels skewed.  I finished off with some white ribbon in a double bow and some adhesive pearls for the steam.

I hope you'll play along with the sketch.  For more inspiration with our sketch, please hop on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers are sharing. And if you use our digital set, be sure to link up over on the Verve blog as well as on the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop for a couple of chances to win some prizes.

Mojo Monday 490

Enabler's List
Stamps: Rise and Shine digital set (Verve)
Paper: tea party (Craft Smith), white
Ink: Laser printer, Copics
Accessories: ribbon, adhesive pearls, stickles

Rise and Shine Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Hi friends! Today's the official kick off of the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and I have a fun little coffee card to share. I've been finding a few minutes here and there to work on some new Verve, and whenever I can, I try to start off my design sessions with a little warm-up of coffee themed designs. It takes a little bit for me to clear the distractions in my brain and focus, and since coffee is such a source of inspiration for me, it always seems like a very good place to start. {wink}

So, I'm offering up another free digi in honor of the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop from some of my warm-ups.  It's called Rise and Shine, and is filled with a few fun little sentiments and mugs celebrating the return of the sun after The Winter That Just Kept On Coming.  I hope you enjoy it.  If you get a chance to use it, be sure to link it up over on the Verve Blog for a chance to win our prize drawing for a $40 gift voucher to the Verve shop.

So on with the card. I printed the PDF version of the digi set with my laser printer, then cut the rise and shine sentiment with a stitched circle die.  I colored the sun mug with Copic markers and then hand trimmed. Next I pulled out the steam stamp from the Coffee set and stamped it in archival ink, colored with copics, accented with Nuvo crystal drops and hand trimmed as well.  I used the stitched circle die as a stencil and sponged inside the sentiment, then matted with a pinking circle cut from daffodil delight.

A scrap of gray paper was embossed with a Darice embossing folder, then I used sandpaper to make it stand out a bit.  I tucked this panel behind my cup for the appearance of even more coffee aroma wafting into the atmosphere.  A scrap of green paper at the bottom and some grosgrain ribbon finishes things off.

I've got another card using the new digi set over on the Verve Blog today. Hop on over there to see this fun little tea card.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a fabulous time along the hop. For all the entry and prize details, be sure to head on over to the official Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop post to check everything out. Happy hopping!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Rise and Shine digital set, Coffee stamp set (Verve Stamps)
Paper: designer paper scraps, white
Ink: black archival (Ranger), sunshine (Altenew), Copic markers, laser printer
Accessories: Stiched Circles Stax (MFT), pinking circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), embossing border (Darice), Nuvo crystal drops (Tonic), grosgrain ribbon (SU!)

Early Posting

Oops! Guess I can't hold a coughing boy and choose the correct date for a scheduled post.  LOL  Blog hop post coming in the morning.

Everything Mojo

Hi friends! Monday has rolled around again and it's time for a brand new Mojo Monday sketch.  This one was based on a card I made with the Lucky Day digi set.  I liked the flow of it, and thought it would be fun to give it another go.  I hope you'll play along.

I knew I wanted to use this Happy Everything sentiment from the Simply Amazing set and some papers from a pad I bought recently and haven't used very much.  These teal, pink and gold papers totally make my heart go pitter patter.  {grin}

I cut the papers to the size I wanted, embossed the background with the swiss dots folder, then added a few gold mats and some Nuvo crystal drops to accent the flower.  Easy peasy and completely finished in under 30 minutes, which is the exact amount of time the boys were allowed to play Solitaire on the computer!

Mojo Monday 489 Sketch

Enabler's List
Stamps: Simply Amazing (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Tea Party (Craft Smith), shiny gold, white
Ink: Altenew
Accessories: stitched circles stax (MFT), flower (Prima), crystal stickles (Nuvo by Tonic), swiss dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug)

Time Out for Blue Skies

Hi friends! Today's card is something you don't see around here very often... clean and simple!  Verve is sponsoring Time Out Challenges this round, and I wanted to make a card for the challenge.  This round the challenge is to CASE a fabulous little card by Jenny Mullins (picture later in this post).  I had to think on it for a while since we all know CAS stamping is not my superpower {wink}.  After a little time trying to connect with my inner CAS girl, I suddenly remembered these sweet butterflies from Blue Skies and knew EXACTLY what I wanted to make!  And it came out just like I pictured it in my head. Bonus! {grin}

I started by stamping the butterflies on white cardstock and coloring with Copic markers before fussy cutting them. I next stamped them on a white panel, just where I wanted them and sponged with a layer of tumbled glass distress ink.  Next I went over this with the dot fade stencil and broken china distress ink. I love how this bit of blue sky looks against all the white.  I popped the cut-out butterflies up over the stamped butterflies, then added the Blue Skies sentiment in the corner.

I wanted a little interest up top, like she has in the branch on the inspiration card.  So I pulled out the Partly Cloudy Die Set and cut a sun, coloring it with Copic markers, and then sponging with Scattered Straw before adhering it to the corner and trimming off the excess.  A thin black mat set things off and this card was done lickety split!

Card by Jenny Mullins

Here's the card being CASE'd. Isn't it just darling?  I think I managed to capture the feel of it, don't you? As I mentioned before, Verve is sponsoring this challenge round, so come play along for a chance to win some new Verve for youself!  For a little more inspiration, head on over to Time Out to check out the lovely creations by their design team.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Blue Skies (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white, black
Ink: onyx black (Versafine), scattered straw, tumbled glass, broken china (Ranger Distress), markers (Copic)
Accessories: Partly Cloudy Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Dot Fade Layering Stencil (Tim Holtz)

Beautiful Soul Card Concept

Hi friends! It's time for another fantastic inspiration challenge over at The Card Concept.  This one has beautiful shades of pinks and purples paired with woodgrain that had me itching to try out my new Distress Oxide inks.

And oh my word, I don't think I've been as excited about an ink pad since I first discovered stamping. These stamp so well and are rich and creamy in color and  react so amazingly with water. I had so much  fun smooshing backgrounds galore, so I'm sure you'll be see more pinks and purples from me in the future as I turn those backgrounds into cards.

So I started with the backgrounds, inspired by the colors in the inspiration photo, then moved on to the flowers.  I love these flowers from Beautiful Things, so used my MISTI to stamp them in worn lipstick, then spritzed a bunch and let them fade away and dry, then stamped again with wilted violet for a crisp outline.  I added some glitter to the outer petals with a glue pen and loose glitter, then accented the centers with shine bright sequins and a teeny little flatback pearl.

I knew I wanted to pull in some woodgrain from the chair in the photo, so decided to make my own. I started with white cardstock, then smooshed a bit of iced spruce on my craft mat and spritzed with water.  I then took a dry stencil brush and dipped it in the watery ink and made sweeping strokes across my cardstock.  I repeated with a layer of vintage photo, then did a similar treatment using a watered down bit of weathered wood distress crayon.  I went back with the other colors as needed and then embossed with a woodgrain folder.  I felt it still needed a bit more blue, so I finished off with a round of broken china.  I then cut it down to card size and used the extra bits to cut the leaves using the Beautiful Flowers Die Set.

The sentiment is stamped on vellum in versamark and then embossed in white.  Then I roughed up the edges of everything and layered it all together with a bit of lace.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous day.  For a little more inspiration, head on over to The Card Concept blog to see what the other designers are sharing today.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Beautiful Things (Verve Stamps)
Paper: watercolor paper (Fabriano), white card stock (Neenah), vellum
Ink: wilted violet, worn lipstick, vintage photo, iced spruce, broken china distress oxide inks, weathered wood distress crayon (Ranger), Versamark
Accessories: Beautiful Flowers Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE), Shine Bright Sequin Mix (Verve), white embossing powder, woodgrain embossing folder (Darice), lace, stencil brush, flatback teeny pearls, glitter, MISTI

Pot of Gold Mojo

Hi friends! It's Monday again and time for a brand new Mojo Monday sketch. This week's sketch is sweet and simple and I really hope you enjoy it.

I started with the limited time free Lucky Day digital, printing the pot of gold sentiment. I wanted to punch it up, but my gold gel pen is on the fritz.  So I used a quickie glue stick pen to highlight different sections of the sentiment, then dusted on some gold embossing powder and heat embossed. I love the look!

I had a leftover partial doily from last week's card, so decided to use portions of it as elegant photo corners for the sentiment panel and top corner of the card.

The black strip is stamped with the faded dot background from the Better Together stamp set, and I embossed it in gold and then tore the top and bottom edges.

Mojo Monday 488

For the background, I embossed the white cardstock with a pretty flourish design, then mixed up a little glossy accents and water to splatter onto the card with a fan brush.  After splattering, I sprinkled with gold embossing powder and heat embossed for those fabulous golden sprinkles.  I finished off with a golden double bow up in the corner.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderfully creative week. For more inspiration, hop on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers are sharing today.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Better Together, Lucky Day Digital Set (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white, black, gold doily
Ink: laser printer, versamark
Accessories: scroll flourish embossing folder (Cuttlebug), fine detail gold embossing powder (JudiKins), glossy accents (Ranger), ribbon, hot glue gun, quickie glue pen

Irish Blessings

Hi friends! I'm popping in with another card I made with the Lucky Day limited time free digital set from Verve. The Coffee Lovers Spring Hop starts soon, and I had to get a little coffee crafting practice in before I start in on some hop cards. {grin}

I colored the shamrock mug with copics, then added some white gel pen accents to brighten things up, before hand cutting with scissors. Next I pulled a few scraps of designer paper together and layered the printed sentiment onto a piece of black card stock and added a doily behind.  I finished off with a bit of polka dot ribbon.

If you haven't already, be sure to download the free  Lucky Day digi before it disappears on March 17.  And if you're looking for a fresh bit of something for your craft room, there's a fun little sale going on at Verve.

Enabler's List
Stamps:  Lucky Day digital set (Verve Stamps)
Paper: dp scraps, white, black, doily
Ink: copic markers, laser printer, white gel pen
Accessories: ribbon (May Arts), enamel accents (Ranger)

Blessings Be More

Hi friends! I'm popping in with a quick little card I threw together with one of the sentiments from the Lucky Day digital set and the current little thank you gift included when I ship Verve orders. I've been having a lot of fun putting these little virtual make & takes together. Hope y'all enjoy them.

I thought this pretty gingham ribbon I found in the back room would look good with some crisp lines to the layout. The middle panel designer paper has a bunch of ampersands, which I though paired with the sentiment quite nicely.  But then, of course, I love how this ribbon ties, so had to make a big old bow, that ended up covering up the ampersands.

Other than what is included in the thank you gift, the only thing I added was a bit of old paper and antique linen distress ink sponged around the edges of each panel. Plus I highlighted the little accents on the sentiment with a gold gel pen.  I used an X-Acto knife to cut my mats.  Here are measurements if you'd like to try it yourself.

• Trim damask design to 4 x 5.25"
• Trim black cardstock to 4-1/8" x 5-3/8"
• Trim ampersand design to  4" x 2-5/8"
• Cut  2 3/4" x 4-1/8" mat for this layer from the center of the black cardstock with X-Acto knife
• Cut a 1/8" mat for printed sentiment from the center of the mat you just cut
• Assemble and share a little blessing with someone special!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I've been super busy with birthday errands for the boys.  So hard to believe my little loves turn 5 tomorrow!

Enabler's List
Stamps: Lucky Day digital set (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Times & Seasons 2 (Echo Park), pearlized cream cardstock (Paper Accents), black cardstock

Ink: antique linen, old paper (Ranger Distress), laser printer, gold gel pen
Accessories: gingham ribbon (May Arts), X-Acto knife

Lucky Mojo

Hi friends! It's the first Monday of a new month and that means it's contest week at Mojo Monday. Play along for a chance to win a Verve set of your choice in our random draw.  We add a winner for every 50 entries, so play as often as you like.  The sketch has lots of potential, whether you like to keep things simple or dress it up.  Hope you have fun with it!

For my card, I used the limited time free Lucky Day digital set I designed for Verve. I printed the sentiment and shamrocks, then colored with copic markers and a white gel pen before cutting them out. I cut the gold mat from the center of a doily, then used the remaining part as my half circle element off the edge.  To step the sketch up a bit, I added a triple bead stick pin with a double bow and a sliver of gold cardstock down the side.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderfully creative week.  If you use the free digi, be sure to link it up over on the Verve blog for another chance to win some Verve, and so I can come and take a look-see. I always love seeing what you create.

For more inspiration with the sketch, hop on over to the Mojo Monday blog to see what the other designers are sharing today.

Enabler's List

Mojo Monday 487

Stamps: Lucky Day digital set (Verve Stamps)
Paper: dp scrap, white, gold, gold doily
Ink: laser printer, copic markers, white gel pen
Accessories: circle dies, triple bead stick pin, seam binding ribbon, embossing folder

Amazing Birthday Card Concept

Hi friends! Welcome to March! It's hard to believe in just a little over a week my little guys will be turning 5. They are so excited for it to be their birthday month. Like the kind of excited I forgot was possible regarding a birthday. {grin}

Today also marks a new challenge over at The Card Concept. If you've been reading a while you'll probably guess that aqua plus just about any other color is my favorite combination.  So when I saw the fabulous aqua and lime inspiration, my fingers itching to get inky. I was inspired to get out my distress inks, since I've been watching all sorts of videos on the new Distress Oxide inks. I don't have any of the new ones yet, but had a whole lot of fun splishing and a splashing with the originals and a few Altenew colors mixed in too.

I used a fun mesh stencil with the inks, dripping water here and there and spritzing with some white linen dylusions spray at the end. I was so happy to find that one of the extra mixed-media backgrounds I did a while back with Magicals powders fit perfectly with the color theme, so added a torn piece of that with a bit of cheesecloth tucked in underneath it.

Next I took some of the inks and smooshed them onto an acrylic block to make the splotchy paper I stamped the poppies from Poppy Birthday on.  I cut them with the coordinating Build a Poppy Die Set, then added some black Enamel Accents to the centers.  I really love that deep, glossy look.  So fabulous!  The sentiment is stamped on white cardstock and then I layered everything together adding in a Prima leaf behind the poppies, then accenting with some self-adhesive pearls.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you're inspired to give The Card Concept challenge a go. Hop on over to their blog to see the beautiful creations the rest of the designers are sharing today.

Enabler's List
Stamps: Poppy Birthday (Verve Stamps)
Paper: white (Neenah)
Ink: twisted citron, peacock feathers, ground espresso, broken china, peeled paint, tumbled glass, black soot (Ranger Distress), lagoon, mountain forest, forest glades (Altenew), Time Travel Teal, Shabby Turbine Teal and Sassy Sapphire Magical Powders (Lindys Stamp Gang), white linen spray (Dylusions), onyx black (Versafine)
Accessories: Build a Poppy Die Set (A Cut Above by VERVE)Mesh Layering Stencil (Stamper's Anonymous), cheesecloth, leaf (Prima), pearl stickers, whipped spackle (Faber Castell), star stencil (Delta Plaid), heavy gesso (Prima)